


i'll show you every version of yourself tonight

by sapphicwillow



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: F/F, First Dates, Fluff, Lots of Cuddling, One Shot, coffee shop and ice cream date, fluff lots of fluff, mention of miss kitty nearly setting the dorm on fire, very soft, willow will stomp if anyone is homophobic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:28:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26121196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphicwillow/pseuds/sapphicwillow
Summary: willow and tara go on a date and softness ensues.
Relationships: Tara Maclay/Willow Rosenberg
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	i'll show you every version of yourself tonight

**Author's Note:**

> special thanks to august, ily!!!
> 
> also pls be nice, i haven't written in a while !!
> 
> (i would also like to add that i wrote this entire one shot in comic sans and it really made the writing experience ten times better.)

Willow made her way across the UC Sunnydale campus, a potion of nerves brewing in her stomach at the thought of seeing her girlfriend. They were going on their first proper date, outside of Tara’s dorm room - where the two women had spent many nights trying new spells and watching old movies in the form of VHS tapes snuggled together under heaps of knitted blankets. It always felt right to Willow calling Tara her girlfriend and the word was constantly bouncing around her head: Tara was her girlfriend, and she was so in love with her. Willow knew that she didn't need to tell Tara that, she could feel the mutual love between them when they held hands or the way they both gazed at each other from across the room - stolen glances and sneaky kisses. 

Willow soon realised she was about to reach Tara’s dorm as her legs took her up the last flight of stairs and down the hallway, passing random students and loud rooms full of drunk adults. The students of UC Sunnydale sure knew how to throw a party on a Tuesday night, Willow thought to herself as she tried to avoid tripping up over a random unconscious student on the floor. Usually, she would have been concerned but she had places to be, like in Tara’s arms. 

The nerves in Willow’s stomach intensified as she reached Tara’s dorm room, the only thing she could think about were those blue eyes… She raised her fist to knock on Tara’s door only to find the door creaked open when she knocked. The redhead stepped into Tara’s room, the room lit almost entirely by fairy lights strung across the ceiling and candles dotted around the room. Her girlfriend sat facing the mirror, finishing her makeup. Willow placed her hands on Tara’s shoulders.

“You’re early.” Tara said, smiling at Willow in the reflection of the mirror. Tara finished applying mascara and stood up from the mirror, taking both of her girlfriend’s hands in her own. 

“Well, you know me, always early!” Willow laughed nervously, as she looked into her girlfriend’s eyes. She couldn’t believe how lucky she was that Tara was her girlfriend and yes, Willow would absolutely call Tara her girlfriend at every given moment possible. She watched as Tara let go of her hands and grabbed her bag off the bed before tucking her hair behind her ears as she blew each candle out. Neither girl wanted a repeat of the time where their kitten, Miss Kitty Fantastico, had nearly set the dorm ablaze after they had left a candle unattended for five minutes. 

“Ready to go?” Tara asked, intertwining her fingers with Willow’s and leaving the dorm room. The two witches tried their best to navigate the busy hallway, apparently everyone had chosen tonight of all nights to throw parties and they were both glad when they finally reached outside, the cool air calm on their flushed skin. 

They began walking down the considerably quiet street, a contrast from all the commotion in the dorms. The sun had set long ago, yet the sun had left a vague trail of pink in its wake. “Where are we going?” Willow asked, excitement etched in her features. It had been a really long time since she had been on a date, or done anything remotely normal, really. But tonight was their night off, no monster fighting or vampire slaying for the two witches tonight. 

“You’ll see, baby,” Tara smirked, leading Willow down an empty side street. “I hope you like it.” She added as an afterthought, scanning Willow’s face for reassurance. She just wanted Willow’s evening to be perfect, as she had managed to get her to take a night off studying for the first time forever, and Buffy was covering patrol tonight with Xander and Giles for backup, not that Buffy needed it. 

“Of course I’ll like it!” Willow squeezed Tara’s hand in a reassuring manner. “You chose where we’re going so I'm obviously going to love it.” 

.

They reached their destination after less than ten minutes of walking, and Willow had spent that time babbling about everything and anything and Tara had tried her best to follow along with her girlfriend’s adorable babble, laughing at how cute Willow was. 

Tara halted to a stop outside a quaint coffee shop, which was hidden away on the street corner. She reached forward to get the door. “After you,” Tara smirked as she watched Willow blush and enter the coffee shop. Even after living in Sunnydale for nineteen years, Willow had never even known this place existed, but then again, she had never dated a girl as considerate and caring as Tara before. 

“Tara… It’s perfect,” Willow said, waiting for Tara to enter the shop behind her. “Although, you know-”

“I know you shouldn’t have caffeine late at night, which is why I brought you here for hot chocolate.” Tara smiled at the thought of her girlfriend drunk of caffeine, she would be bouncing off the walls with even more excitement than usual. 

Willow’s eyes lit up, her face contorting into a huge grin. “Oooh! I love hot chocolate! It’s like a big hot mug of chocolatey goodness.” Tara absolutely knew about Willow’s love of hot chocolate, as she drank many mugs of it while studying and always brought extra back from the vending machine for her love. This hot chocolate would be way better than vending machine hot chocolate, Tara thought to herself. 

They settled at a table in the corner, not that it really mattered where they sat as there weren't many people currently in the small coffee shop. Deep down, Tara was glad it was quiet as it meant there were less people to give them funny looks as they enjoyed their date, although Tara knew that if anyone even so much looked at them in disgust, Willow would go into Stomp mode. The redhead had a lot of physical strength for someone who was so small. 

Willow begrudgingly let go of Tara’s hand so that she could and order their drinks. As she waited for Tara to return, she finally gave the inside of the coffee shop a proper look. Fairy lights had been strung carefully across the ceiling, overlapping in places like the ones in Tara’s room did. Artwork generously decorated the cream walls and Willow’s favourite piece was a renaissance-style painting of two women… There was also a woman, possibly in her early twenties playing an acoustic folk song on a stool at the opposite side of the shop to where the two witches were sat. Overall, the coffee shop was a vibe and Willow inwardly freaked out about how amazing her girlfriend was. She gazed across the shop, her girlfriend now stood waiting for their drinks. Tara looked beautiful, as she always did, her platinum blonde hair slightly wavy and her striking blue eyes were even more striking this evening, and Willow found herself fantasising about staring into Tara’s eyes. Willow remembered the time when Tara had been so shy around her that she barely got to look into her eyes. A lot had changed since then, the two women found comfort in each other's presence and Tara hardly stuttered around Willow, which made Willow’s heart fill to the brim with love. 

Tara soon returned with their hot chocolates, the whipped cream and marshmallows piled high on top, bursting Willow’s reverie about her girlfriend who now sat across from her. Tara raised her eyebrows at her unresponsive girlfriend. “Uh, Willow?”

“Hmm… Tara?”

“You okay there?” 

“Yes! Yes, I’m all good. I was just thinking about how beautiful you are.” Willow blushed. “Not that you don’t always look beautiful, because you do, but you look especially beautiful tonight.” 

There would have been a time, really not that long ago where Tara would have protested against the compliment, shaking her head in disagreement but it was Willow, and she believed her. “You look beautiful, too, darling.” 

Tara reached for Willow’s hand, so she could hold it and in the hope that the hand holding would never end. She never wanted to let go, ever. She was just so happy and content while being with Willow. It was like magic. “So do you like it?” she asked, surveying her girlfriend's face and raising her mug to take a sip of her drink. Willow mirrored her actions, her eyes widening at just how good the hot chocolate was. Never again would she have hot chocolate from the campus vending machine. 

“I love it! It’s so perfect here,” Willow beamed, taking another sip, “And it very much reminds me of you, which makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.” 

Tara felt accomplished, knowing that her girlfriend liked it and seemed to be enjoying herself. Neither of them could stop smiling, not that they wanted to - it was just so nice to be able to be with each other outside the confines of their respective dorm rooms. 

.

After another much needed hot chocolate, the two girls got up to leave, realising they had been there for around two hours and that the coffee shop would be closing very soon. Tara placed some bills down on the table, despite Willow’s protesting that she should pay instead. 

The crisp fall air had dropped slightly colder, but it was rather warm for mid October, and neither witch minded the cold, or even really felt it as they were so wrapped up in one another. 

They walked hand in hand down the street parallel to one of Sunnydale’s many graveyards. With the amount of death in Sunnydale, it was no surprise they had forty-three churches and twelve graveyards. 

Tara squinted into the darkness, not seeing any movement but feeling the need to ask anyway. “Do you think Buffy’s okay on patrol tonight?”

“I’m sure she’ll be fine, she has Xander and Giles… not that Xander will be much help.” Willow giggled at the thought of her best friend slaying vampires, or rather failing to do so. 

Willow noticed the ice cream parlour across the street; only Sunnydale would have an ice cream parlour across from a graveyard. She began to pull her girlfriend across the street towards the door. Tara raised her eyebrows. 

“I know what you’re thinking,” Willow said, raising her hands in surrender, “It’s 9 pm on a Tuesday night in the middle of October but… ice cream!” 

Tara shook her head lightly, unable to stop the smile that spread across her face as she followed Willow into the parlour, the fluorescent lights a big change from the streetlamp lined street outside. 

It was completely empty, aside from the teenager working the till, a look of boredom and disinterest ingrained in his face. Willow made her way to the counter, already knowing what she wanted. The teenager looked at her expectantly. “I’ll have a mint chocolate chip cone and…” She trailed off, waiting for Tara to tell her what she wanted.

“A vanilla cone.”

The cashier rang the order up. “That’ll be six dollars,” Willow quickly handed over the money and watched with excitement as a large scoop of ice cream was placed on her cone and handed to her. Tara got her ice cream and they exited, Willow clearly very happy to have more sugar. 

Willow interlaced her fingers with Tara’s again, thinking back to the first time they had held hands. Their voices had been stolen by Sunnydale’s latest Hellmouth attraction - The Gentlemen. Willow had been sat on the floor trying to move the vending machine, even though she had previously only floated pencils, when she had felt Tara’s fingers touch hers and interlock… it was like nothing she had ever experienced before. There was so much power in that gesture and it felt right. For once in her life, Willow Rosenberg had felt right, she hadn’t felt like the nerdy sidekick, she had felt complete. And boy, was she not straight, although she had not figured that part out until a bit later. As soon as she had felt Tara’s hand in her own, she knew everything would be okay. 

They sat down on a bench, Willow leaning into the warmth of Tara as they ate their ice creams, both of them craning their necks to look up at the stars in the sky. 

Willow suddenly stopped eating her ice cream to turn around and face her girlfriend, her eyes travelling down to her girlfriends lips. “Can I kiss you?” she asked, hoping the answer would be yes. 

“You don’t need to ask, baby.” 

“I know, but I just wanted to make sure-”

Tara placed her lips on Willow’s, moving the hand that wasn't holding her ice cream to caress Willow’s jaw. The kiss was cool and Willow’s lips tasted slightly minty. Willow’s hand found its way to Tara’s back, her fingertips pressing under Tara’s top and drawing gentle circles on the smooth skin as Tara broke the kiss with a small gasp. 

Tara had kissed Willow before, but it never felt anything like that. “T-that was…”

“Wow.” Willow finished for her, her heart beating faster than should be humanly possible. 

Feeling bold, Tara decided to smudge ice cream on her lover’s nose, watching as Willow’s face crinkled at the cold. She pouted, sticking her bottom lip out slightly, “My nose is cold.” 

“I guess I’ll just have to fix that,” Tara smirked, leaning forward to place a kiss on Willow’s nose, removing the ice cream with her lips. “Mmm, Willow-nose. Is that better?” 

The redhead blushed, “Much better.”

They finished their ice creams, Willow’s body molded into Tara’s for warmth. So, maybe getting ice cream when it was cold was a bad idea, but Willow had to admit that it was bloody good ice cream. They then headed back to Tara’s dorm, as it was closer and Willow didn’t want to leave Tara to go and sleep alone in her own bed, she wanted to be as close to Tara as possible. 

“Mm, I’m sleepy.” Willow groaned as Tara got into bed beside her. “Wait!” she suddenly shot out of bed and rushed over to her bag. “I have a present for you.”

Tara watched as the smile that plastered her beautiful girlfriend’s face grew as she neared the bed, her hand behind her back. “Close your eyes and hold your hand out!” Tara did as Willow had said and felt something light and fuzzy being placed in the palm of her hand. She opened her eyes to see that her girlfriend had given her a neon green worm on a string. She looked down at her girlfriend, whose face wore a massive grin. 

“Do you like it?” she giggled, snuggling into Tara’s side again. 

“I love it.” Tara placed the worm on her bedside table. “I will call him Mr. Wormington.” The two witches burst into laughter at each other. 

“I love you, Tara.” Willow said, rolling over to face her girlfriend. She really loved Tara, being with her made her feel safe and she wouldn’t give that up for the world. 

Tara’s heart skipped a beat and she stared into Willow’s emerald green eyes. “I love you, too, Willow.”

**Author's Note:**

> it's worm time babey!


End file.
